Sunday, January 12, 2003

The Party of Big Government

Two years after taking office, Bush is presiding over the biggest, most expensive federal government in history. He has created a mammoth Cabinet department, increased federal spending, imposed new federal rules on local and state governments, and injected federal requirements into every public school in America....

The pittance tax cuts that Bush has pursued with monomania simply disguise the fact that the average taxpayer will pay for the bloat through their nose[2], while the rich benefit. The War on Terror is hardly an excuse - the article points out that only a third of the additional spending is related to it. Thes rest of the bloat comes straight from pork and givernment intrusion. I'm sure that GOP defenders (hypocrisy blindness mandatory, as Volokh brilliantly demonstrates with a Modest Proposal) like Hannity, Limbaugh et al will point out that the Democrats had control of Congress during half of Bush's tenure and figure out a way to slam Jeffords (and the requisite homage to the Tubesteak Messiah). And of course, there are neccessary domestic initiatives that the federal government won't be able to afford (because the GOP will prioritize them less, seeing as they only benefit ordinary citizens, who are worthless in their calculus).

Well, the GOP has control now. Any GOP partisans want to argue that the fed govt will now shrink?

And it isn't just the size of the federal government that betrays conservative principles. The naked pursuit of raw power, shrouded in secrecy, is the hallmark of this administration. In essence, Tacitus is making the same general point as Paul Krugman:

Faced with a real problem--terrorism, the economy, nukes in North Korea--the Bush administration's response has nothing to do with solving that problem. Instead it exploits the issue to advance its political agenda.

...

Will these guys ever decide that their job includes solving problems, not just using them?

For the next two years, the average citizen in this country can be considered economic collateral damage.

[1]Tacitus is a member of that rare and diminshing class of honest conservatives who choose targets for critique based on their principles, not their political affiliation. I consider him, Jane, Steve, and of course my hero John Derbyshire to all be members of this class. Sadly, I think that in an era of GOP control over all branches of givernment, it is THEIR voices that are silenced more than mine.

[2] I am interested in and invite opposing arguments trying to rationalize away the effect that a massive budget deficit will have on the fortunes and economic growth of the middle class.